Watch a Charming Home Video of David Bowie in 1965

By Judy Berman

November 28, 2011

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In 1965, David Bowie was not famous. In fact, he wasn’t even David Bowie yet — he was the 18-year-old frontman of Davie Jones and the Lower Third, one of many bands the soon-to-be-superstar performed with in the mid-’60s. But, as a newly discovered home video attests, he was already the stylish and charismatic presence who broke through four years later with “Space Oddity.” Dangerous Minds points us to the short clip below, shot by YouTube poster Joe Salama’s father during a visit to London’s West End. Although Salama identifies the video as dating to 1968, a particularly observant Tumblr blogger has made a strong case that it actually comes from ’65. The most fascinating bit of the story, as far as we’re concerned, is that Salama’s dad had no idea who Bowie was and doesn’t remember what caught his eye about the singer. That, and the fact that mid-’60s, mod-era Bowie already knew just how to affably mug for the camera — a skill that would certainly come in handy later in his career.